(1) Before a permit may be issued by the department to drill a coalbed methane well on any tract known to be underlaid with coal-bearing strata, the well operator shall provide to the department a plat prepared by a licensed, professional land surveyor and a licensed, professional engineer showing:
(a) The county in which the coalbed methane well drill site is located;

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Terms Used In Kentucky Statutes 349.015

  • Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
  • Certified mail: means any method of governmental, commercial, or electronic delivery that allows a document or package to have proof of:
    (a) Sending the document or package. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
  • Coal interest holder: means every record coal owner, record coal lessee, mine licensee as defined in KRS §. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
  • Coalbed methane: means gas produced from a reservoir found in a coalbed, a mined-out area, or gob. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
  • Coalbed methane well: means any well drilled, deepened, converted, or reopened for the purpose of capturing coalbed methane for sale or use. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
  • Department: means the Department for Natural Resources. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
  • Division: means the Division of Mine Permits in the Department for Natural
    Resources. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
  • horizontal drilling: means the intentional act of drilling a borehole, shaft, or hole, which deviates from vertical for the purpose of penetrating a coal seam to produce coalbed methane. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
  • Mine licensee: means the mine licensee as defined in KRS §. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
  • Mine permittee: means the permittee as defined in KRS §. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
  • Operator: means any owner of the right to drill, develop, operate, and produce coalbed methane from a pool and to appropriate the coalbed methane produced therefrom, either for himself or herself, or for himself, herself, and others. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
  • Owner: when applied to any animal, means any person having a property interest in such animal. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
  • Person: means any person, corporation, association, partnership, limited liability company, receiver, governmental agency subject to this chapter, trustee, so-called common law or statutory trust, guardian, executor, administrator, or fiduciary of any kind, federal agency, state agency, city, commission, political subdivision of the Commonwealth, or any interstate body. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
  • Plat: means a map, drawing, or print showing the location of a well. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
  • Surface owner: means the person in whose name the surface of the land is assessed for purposes of taxes imposed according to the property valuation administrator. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
  • Well: means any borehole, shaft driven, or hole dug, drilled, deepened, converted or reopened for the purpose of capturing or producing coalbed methane for sale or use. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
  • Workable coalbed: means :
    (a) Any coalbed twenty-four (24) inches or more in thickness. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010

(b) The name of the surface owner of the drill site tract, the acreage of the drill site tract, the names of the surface owners of adjacent tracts, the names of all coal interest holders from the surface to fifty (50) feet below the deepest penetration of the coalbed methane well on the tract on which the well is proposed to be located, and the names of all oil and gas owners from the surface to one hundred (100) feet below the deepest penetration of the coalbed methane well on the tract on which the well is proposed to be located;
(c) The proposed or actual location of the coalbed methane well determined by bearing and distance, relative to two (2) permanent points or monuments that appear on the applicable United States Geological Survey seven and one-half (7-1/2) minute topographic quadrangle map;
(d) The location of any other existing or permitted coalbed methane well or any oil or gas well located within one thousand five hundred (1,500) feet of the well;
(e) The outside boundary of the mineral tract from which the coalbed methane is to be produced if within seven hundred fifty (750) feet of the well; and
(f) The number to be given the coalbed methane well, the earliest date for commencement of drilling, the earliest date for commencement of any stimulation of the coalbed methane well, and if horizontal drilling of a coalbed methane well is proposed, the vertical and horizontal alignment and extent of the coalbed methane well.
(2) If the location of any coalbed methane well proposed to be drilled, deepened, or reopened is known to be underlaid by a coal bearing stratum which is not within the area of an existing mining permit or the proposed permitted area of a pending application or permit modification for a mine before the division, simultaneously with the filing of an application for a permit, the applicant shall send, by registered or certified mail, a copy of the required plat to the record coal owner or owners and record coal lessee or lessees from the surface to fifty (50) feet below the deepest penetration of the coalbed methane well on the tract on which the well is proposed to be located.
(3) If the coal bearing stratum is within the area of an existing mining permit or the proposed permitted area of a pending application or permit modification for a mine before the division, a copy of the required plat shall also be sent by the applicant, by registered or certified mail, to each mine licensee and mine permittee operating any stratum as designated on the current license issued by the department and at the
address stated thereon.
(4) A copy of the required plat shall also be sent, by registered or certified mail, simultaneously with the filing of an application for a permit, to the surface owner of the drill site tract and surface owners of adjoining tracts.
(5) If the address of any record owner is unknown to the applicant and cannot upon diligent inquiry within the county be ascertained, or if there are more than five (5) record owners, then the applicant shall file with the department an affidavit that either condition exists, and the department may prescribe some different method of notifying the record owner in lieu of sending a copy of the plat and notice of application as required by this section.
(6) The plat shall be filed and become a permanent record, subject to inspection at any time by any interested person. Any executive officer, process agent, or chief engineer of the mine licensee or mine permittee may be considered a mine licensee or mine permittee for the purposes of mailing the required copy of the plat.
(7) If a coalbed methane well is proposed to be drilled, deepened, converted, or reopened by an applicant who is not the owner or lessee of all of the oil and gas interests, the applicant shall, simultaneously with the filing of the application for a permit, send by registered or certified mail a copy of the required plat to the record oil and gas lessees of, to the record oil and gas lessors of, and to the operator of all oil and gas wells producing from, all formations from the surface to one hundred (100) feet below the deepest penetration of the coalbed methane well on the tract upon which the well is proposed to be located.
(8) The operator shall promptly upon completion of either a vertically drilled coalbed methane well located ten (10) feet or more from the location reflected on the plat required with the permit application or a horizontally drilled coalbed methane well file with the department an as-drilled plat prepared by a licensed professional land surveyor and a licensed professional engineer reflecting the actual coalbed methane well location. If the operator has completed a horizontally drilled coalbed methane well, the as-drilled plat shall show its alignment and extent. The plat shall become a permanent record subject to inspection at any time by any interested persons.
(9) Each plat, or exhibit attached thereto, shall have the following information on a form supplied by the department:
(a) Notice of the application for a coalbed methane well and the address where a copy of the application may be obtained;
(b) A statement that the recipient has twenty (20) days within which to file an objection to the proposed coalbed methane well, its location, the proposed stimulation in the workable coalbed, or the proposed completion in the workable coalbed; and
(c) A statement that the applicant has met and conferred with, or offered to meet and confer with, each coal interest holder concerning the proposed coalbed methane well, its location, the proposed stimulation in the workable coalbed, or the proposed completion in the workable coalbed.
Effective: June 20, 2005
History: Amended 2005 Ky. Acts ch. 123, sec. 45, effective June 20, 2005. — Created
2004 Ky. Acts ch. 65, sec. 3, effective July 13, 2004.